Seattle Desi

Most people think renting is like "throwing money in the toilet". When you buy a home, money gets "thrown away into the toilet also", but the hope is that the home-appreciates & it compensates for the "lost" money. If the home does not appreciate at least 4% each year, you are better off renting in most cases. Cost of owning a home = [Cost of the house] + [Closing cost while buying the house] + [interest paid] + [taxes on the home] + [home improvements] + [Home owner dues] + [Maintenance] + [additional expenses towards utilities and/or extra commute] + [possible gains from the down payment, if this amount was invested elsewhere] - [The rent you would have paid if you did not own a home] – [income taxes saved after factoring for standard deduction] Profit/Loss after selling the home = [Sale price] – [Cost of owning] – [Realtor commission] – [sales/excise tax]

A lot of us look at a home as a place to live and as an investment. From the investment perspective, it's not the best time to buy a home. If the home does not appreciate at least 4% each year, you are better off renting in most cases. Additionally, you have to be sure that you will live in that home for at least 5 years to make monetary sense. Use a good rent vs. buy calculator to guesstimate which is better for your circumstances. One piece of advice that a real-estate professional gave me is to avoid homes that were built during the "housing-boom times" (esp betweeen 2002 & 2006) -- since builders were optimizing on quantity of homes rather than quality, during this time period. For those who really want to live in a home, consider renting a home for a year or two (you can get some reasonably good deals on rentals, since homes are not selling). In the Seattle area, rents of high-end apartments & that of good homes are more or less the same (currently). Ren...

Compare the costs of buying or renting comparable homes. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/business/2007_BUYRENT_GRAPHIC.html?ex=1176955200&en=f19f23f7517d8826&ei=5070